An exhibitor that has been at World of Concrete for ten years, took 600 square feet last time and spent $10,000 on sponsorship holds 28 priority points. The organiser prints that sum in its space draw guidelines, so every exhibitor could work out roughly where it stood in the queue for the 2027 show.
Most trade shows cannot show their working like that. The floor plan goes out, and the sales director of a company that has exhibited for nine years finds a competitor on the corner she asked for. She calls. Somebody on your team now has to explain a decision that was made on a Tuesday afternoon with a marker pen and good intentions.
Our argument in this guide: booth allocation is fair when an exhibitor who did not get the position it wanted can still see why. That only works if the rules are fixed and published before the first application arrives. We show you four ways to set the order, the placement rules worth writing down, and how to run a waiting list nobody questions.
What booth allocation covers
The phone call is about one booth, but three separate decisions sit behind it. Admission decides whether a company may exhibit at all, usually by checking its products against the show’s profile. Allocation decides how much space it gets and of what type: inline, corner, peninsula or island. Placement decides where that space sits, down to hall, aisle and booth number.
In British usage the same process is called stand allocation, and North American shows often speak of space assignment or a space draw. Admission rarely causes trouble. Placement does, because good positions are scarce and visible to everyone.
How many corners and islands exist in the first place is a floor plan question. Our guide to event floor plan software compares the tools that keep booth status and layout current. None of them decides who gets the corner.
The software draws. You decide.
Four ways to decide who chooses first
Since the decision is yours, the first thing exhibitors want to know is the order. Four models are in use, and most shows combine two of them.
| Model | How it works | Strength | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| First come, first served | Whoever applies and pays a deposit first chooses first | Simple, rewards early commitment | Penalises companies with slow sign-off, ignores the structure of the hall |
| Right of first refusal | Returning exhibitors may rebook last year’s position until a cut-off date | Predictable, supports rebooking | Prime positions never open up, newcomers stay at the edges |
| Priority points | Points for years exhibited, space and extra spend set the order of selection | Anyone can check the sum | Large exhibitors collect faster, the ledger needs upkeep |
| Curated placement | The organiser places exhibitors by product sector and sends a proposal | Coherent halls, short routes for visitors | Looks opaque when criteria are missing |
Priority points are the standard at large North American shows and association meetings. World of Concrete, the construction show in Las Vegas, publishes the whole formula. Exhibitors with more points choose earlier within their size category.
How World of Concrete awards priority points for its 2027 space draw
An association show adds a useful refinement. NACS, the US convenience retail association, counts points over the last five years only and states plainly that points cannot be purchased. Each rule violation at the booth that receives a written citation costs one point (NACS Show, Priority Points Criteria 2027).
The window is the detail to copy. Without one, a lead built up in the 1990s holds the best positions for good, and your newest exhibitors can do the sum and see they will never catch up.
You do not need a full points ledger to borrow the principle. Curated placement is the norm at German trade fairs, where the organiser plans the halls by sector and sends each exhibitor a proposal. A show with 180 exhibitors often does well with a hybrid. Returning exhibitors get four weeks to rebook their position. After that the team places by sector, and inside a sector the application date decides.
Which model you choose matters less than when you announce it.
What your terms allow and what they leave open
Announcing the model is a choice, because your contract rarely forces you to. Exhibitor terms are written to keep the organiser’s hands free.
Informa’s sponsorship and exhibition terms for the UK and EU reserve the right to alter the floor plan and to change the size, shape or position of a space. If the space is materially reduced, the client receives a pro rata refund. The terms give no warranty about where any other exhibitor will be located (last updated March 2026). Messe München’s general terms state that placement follows the organiser’s sector structure and not the order in which applications arrive (April 2023). The American Urological Association tells exhibitors at its 2026 annual meeting that it cannot guarantee they will not be placed next to a competitor.
All three say what the organiser may do. None says how it will use that freedom, and that is the gap your allocation rules fill. Terms protect you in a dispute. Rules prevent the dispute.
This section is general information, not legal advice. Have your exhibitor terms and your allocation rules checked together by a lawyer in your jurisdiction.
Discretion without rules looks like favouritism from outside.
Placement rules to settle before sales open
The order tells exhibitors who goes first. It does not tell them what happens when two rules collide. Five questions come up every year, so answer them once in writing:
- Sectors: Which halls or zones belong to which product group, and who decides for a company that fits two?
- Competitors as neighbours: Do you promise distance from competitors? Most organisers do not. Say so in your rules, so nobody in sales promises it on the phone.
- Change of size: Does an exhibitor keep its priority if it downsizes? A common answer is that priority applies to a position only if the new size fits there.
- First-time exhibitors: Hold back a few good positions in each sector for new companies. Otherwise every newcomer ends up against the back wall.
- Special areas: Pavilions, startup zones and sponsor spaces sit outside the queue. Name them.
The fourth rule pays back a year later. First-timers are the group most likely to leave, and a booth behind a pillar in the last aisle does not help. Our guide to exhibitor retention explains how to keep them for a second year.
Price belongs on this list too. If corners and islands carry a surcharge, the price list does part of the rationing for you. How to build that ladder is the subject of our guide to booth pricing.
A timetable with cut-off dates
Rules only work with dates attached, because every priority has to expire at some point. The timings below are editorial guide values for an annual show.
Booth allocation for an annual trade show in six steps
- 12 months Publish the rules Order, placement rules, cut-off dates and a named contact go into the application pack and onto the website.
- 11 months Open rebooking Returning exhibitors confirm last year's position or request a change, with a fixed closing date.
- 9 months Close the first round All applications received by the cut-off count as simultaneous and are ranked by the rules.
- 8 months Plan and propose Each exhibitor receives a placement proposal with booth number, dimensions and neighbouring spaces.
- 7 months Collect confirmations A short deadline to accept or counter, after which the space goes to the next in line.
- Until the show Fill the gaps Freed space goes to the waiting list by the published rule, and every change is logged.
Closing a round fixes the weakness of pure first come, first served. When every application before the cut-off is treated as simultaneous, you still reward early commitment, but nobody has to submit a form at one minute past midnight. A corporate exhibitor whose budget needs three signatures gets the same chance as an owner who signs alone.
The confirmation deadline needs discipline. Picture an exhibitor who sits on a proposal for six weeks while three others wait for the same space. NACS gives each priority group 48 hours to apply and moves anyone who misses the window to the bottom of the group. You may prefer ten working days. What counts is that the deadline was known in advance.
Every open offer blocks the next one.
Running a waiting list
A full hall is where most allocation policies stop, and where the awkward calls start. A waiting list without rules ends up as a list of people who know your sales team well. Settle four things before the first name goes on it.
First, entry. A company joins the list with a complete application that states the size and sector it wants.
Second, order. Date of application alone rarely works. A freed 12 square metre booth in the packaging hall is no use to a machine builder who wants 60. Rank by sector and size band first, and by date inside each band. NACS goes further and gives members priority over non-members on its waiting list (NACS Show, 2027). Whether you want an extra criterion like that is your call. It only has to be written down beforehand.
Third, the offer. Whoever moves up gets a specific space with a booth number and a short deadline, for example five working days. If they decline, they stay on the list and the offer moves on.
Fourth, the end. Name the date after which you stop refilling space, because stand builders and the exhibitor directory can no longer keep up.
Tell waiting companies honestly where they stand. “You are fourth in line for 20 to 40 square metres in drive technology” is something a marketing manager can plan around. “We will be in touch” is not.
Moving an exhibitor, and the call that follows
Even with good rules you will have to move people. A door becomes an emergency exit, an anchor exhibitor cancels, two small ones move up. Three habits limit the damage.
Move like for like. Offer the same booth type and size, and refund the difference if the new space is smaller or cheaper. That is the line the Informa terms draw for a materially reduced space, and it is a sensible minimum even where your contract would allow more.
Give the reason in writing and keep a log. For every placement and every change, record which rule applied and who decided. This is easiest when application, space and contract live in one record, which is one of the criteria in our comparison of exhibitor management software.
Name one person for exceptions. When the sales director calls about her corner, she should not reach the account manager who wants to sell her next year’s booth. She should reach the show manager, who can explain the rule. The answer is then not “it could not be done”. It is: “Your competitor confirmed inside the rebooking window. Your application arrived three weeks after the cut-off.”
She will not like it. But she can check it.
Why position matters less once meetings are booked
Behind many placement complaints sits a worry about footfall. The exhibitor wants the corner by the main entrance because she expects passing trade there. If her team already has confirmed meetings in the diary before the show opens, the booth number loses some of its weight.
A visitor with an appointment will find aisle D.
Solution: Converve does not replace your floor plan or your space sales. Both stay in your dedicated tool, and the booth number is the common reference in both systems. Converve adds meeting scheduling. Exhibitors maintain their company profile, booth staff and location details in the exhibitor portal. You configure a rule-based meeting matrix that sets which groups may meet, and confirmed meetings are scheduled without clashes, with a booth or table assigned to each. Our trade show solution page shows the setup, and our guide to trade show matchmaking software follows the process from visitor profile to confirmed appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is booth allocation at a trade show?
Booth allocation is the process by which an organiser assigns exhibition space to exhibitors. It covers three decisions: admitting the company, allocating a size and booth type, and placing the booth in a hall and aisle. In the UK it is usually called stand allocation, in North America often space assignment.
Are exhibitors entitled to a specific booth position?
Usually not. Published exhibitor terms tend to treat position requests as wishes. Informa’s UK and EU terms reserve the right to change the position of a space (March 2026), and Messe München’s general terms say placement does not follow the order of applications (April 2023). The terms of the individual show always apply.
Is first come, first served a fair way to allocate booths?
It is simple, but not automatically fair. It favours companies with short approval chains and ignores how the hall is organised by sector. Many organisers therefore treat all applications before a cut-off date as equal and use the application date only as a tie-breaker.
How do priority points work?
Exhibitors collect points, typically for years exhibited, booth size and additional spend such as sponsorship. More points mean an earlier choice. At World of Concrete each year exhibited is worth two points and every 100 square feet one point (2027 Space Draw Guidelines). A tie-break rule and an expiry for old points keep the system open to newer exhibitors.
How should an organiser run an exhibitor waiting list?
With four fixed rules: who may join, in what order companies move up, how long an offer stays open and when the list closes. Ranking by sector and size band first, then by application date, works better than date alone. Tell each company its position on the list.
Conclusion: rules first, floor plan second
Your exhibitor terms give you almost complete freedom over booth allocation. They do not earn you trust. Trust comes from publishing the order, the placement rules, the cut-off dates and the waiting list rules before the first application arrives, and then keeping to them yourself. Then even the exhibitor who missed out on the corner can see why.
Start with a single page: model, dates, five placement rules, one named contact. If you also want every booth to get conversations wherever it sits in the hall, get in touch with Converve about pre-booked meetings at your show.